Kacxa Week 2019 Extension Day 11 Nightmare Comforts for Acxa
by Ultimate-Hunter-Guyver
Summary: Acxa has a nightmare from an event that happened when she was a toddler and Keith finds a way to comfort her.


He was jostled awake from her trembling in their bed. At first, he thought it was Kosmo trying to get compy the way canines get comfy. Dig at something and move it into a shape to lay. But he saw that his wolf was sleeping on his Star Trek extra large dog bed in the form of Captain Kirk's chair.

He heard a whimper of fear and turned to face her. She was shaking with cold heavy sweat on her skin. He placed a hand on her hip, trying to wake her up, even called to her softly. However, he was greeted with further childlike whimpers.

_The screams kept getting louder and louder as the creature continued its rampage on the base. A small girl hid in a utility locker crying as the sounds of tearing flesh, the crunching of bones, and the splashing of some liquid filled the air along with the sounds of terror and blaster fire. The little girl held her hands over her ears, clamping her eyes shut as tight as a terrified 4-year-old girl could._

_The chaos died down on the transport ship. A chittering beast walked by, sniffing the locker she was hiding in. Her breathing hitched as she could feel the stink of the creature's heavy breath and growl that shook her to the core. The door to the locker, she was in flung open, revealing a blue-skinned girl with darker blue hair with little nubs for horns screaming._

Her scream was nothing he had heard before, which terrified him. He was so concerned about her that he barely moved out of the way of her blaster. Keith looked at the wall of their shared Atlas Quarters; the burn mark on the wall was mere millimeters from where his head was. He looked at her and saw the pure look of terror on her face. Her hands were trembling and locked on the trigger, crying.

He snapped his head to the door as their door flew open. Garrison security a few Paladins came into view weapons and bayards drawn. He held his hand up to tell them silently, " Don't Engage." They lowered their guns and watched Keith slowly approach her. He spoke softly to her, trying to get her to realize where she was.

When she came back to reality, she was greeted with a worried Keith, a smoldering spot on their wall, with Galaxy Garrison security weapons at the ready with Lance and Pidge wielding their bayards with Shiro standing behind them. He ordered Lance and Pidge along with the Garrison Security to stand down.

They stood aside and before Shiro could step in, or Keith could take a step towards her, she jumped off the bed and ran. The look of sheer terror still etched on her face. A look that Shiro recognized all too well. He ordered the Paladins to return to their rooms, and the Security Officers to return to the deck's security station.

Shiro walked in and was greeted by Kosmo, who jumped onto the bed and rolled on his back, demanding Uncle-Shiro to give him a tummy rub. Shiro looked at the wall as he promptly scratched the wolf's stomach and tapped his ribcage softly. The proximity to the location of where Keith's head was did not escape him. Keith went and sat down on the foot of his side of the bed.

Shiro: What happened here, Keith?

Keith: We were sleeping all contently.

Still looking at the burn mark, Shiro: Obviously.

Keith: She started trembling, whimpering as if she was having a nightmare. So I tried to wake her up.

He heard Shiro sigh and turned to face Keith.

Keith: When she woke up, she woke up screaming, she pushed me out of bed and shot at the wall. Then a few seconds later, you all were standing in my doorway.

Shiro: Do you have an idea as to what could have caused the nightmare?

Keith: No. She was rather upset when she found out I faced Ranveig's Superweapon with that Galra by ourselves.

He had never seen his Jhuk' uhn' dac like this, which terrified him. Up until her arrival on Earth, she always had the mannerisms of a cold warrior devoid of emotions. He only saw fear on her face once, back when Zethrid held him by the throat with a blaster to his temple. But it was nothing like what he just saw.

Shiro did notice a change in her demeanor when, during the debrief, she saw images of the "Superweapon." Shiro could see he wanted to do something but didn't know what to do. Acting as the brother he always had been, he offered solutions to help her. But the critical thing was to let her open up when she was ready too.

Keith was wearing just a pair of red satin pajama-pants as he wandered the Atlas, starting to wish they had the Castle back. The Atlas was a beautiful ship, don't get him wrong. It was the Flagship of the Galaxy-Garrison in a fledgling Galaxy Alliance. But it was just too big! He checked all the usual spots they hung out, even asked Veronica or Coran if they had seen her, which they had not.

Acxa could still hear the screams, the crunching, the tearing, and the splashing as she frantically looked for a place to hide. A place where she could feel safe. The lights in the room she came into were off, but two lights flashed on with three light blue dots in between them.

He found her an hour later in the alcove where his spare Paladin and Marmora suit were along with some extra clothes sleeping. He knelt down and delicately placing a hand on her bruised knees. She snapped awake ready to strike again but realized it was Keith. He still had a worried look on his face, not from her hitting him but for her in general. Feeling shame, she looked away.

Seeing how exhausted she was, he coaxed her out of the clothing alcove and over to the simple military-like cot. He slowly crawled in with her following suit, not realizing where she had ended. She, however, instead of facing him, due to the shame she was feeling had her back to him.

Acxa: Sorry, you had to see that shameful display. A warrior race like ours should not show weakness like that.

Keith: I don't consider it a weakness.

Acxa adjusted so she could feel his arms wrap around him.

Acxa: Its… it's just…

He could feel her tremble and hear her whimper. His grip around her got tighter in a soothing reassurance manner.

Acxa: I can't sleep on ships like these, Keith. It's great when our missions criss-cross, but I can't sleep on ships.

Some tears escaped her eyes and ran down her face.

Acxa: It all started when I was a youngling around what your people call four…

Acxa started to go into detail on the nightmare she thought she escaped when Lotor recruited her at the age humans consider 12 or 13. She thought she was completely over it when she heard and saw footage of the encounter with Ranveig's SUperweapon. She told him how she was on a transport ship with refugees from a devastated planet from war. She was a typical toddler at the time, with only her older brother and grandmother.

The ship was halfway through it's trip to a colony world when it was attacked rival Druids yet to pledge their loyalty to Honerva, Haggar at the time. They were ruthless towards the unarmed refugees. But they had also brought a beast with them for those who tried putting up a fight.

Her grandmother was the one who placed her in a utility locker, promising to come back for her. But her grandmother never did; she was never found. Instead, the creature the Druids brought found her and were about to kill her when a Druid stopped it. It cocked its head ready to blast her when Sentries started appearing like Grealisian Locust with the Empire's emblem on their left breastplate and right shoulders….

She had fallen back asleep in his arms. He now understood, "why?" He spent the next hour, stroking her sides and arms in comforting circles, which seemed to help her when she appeared to have the nightmare. Every time his grip started to loosen, she'd grab hold of him. A few times, he winced when she'd grab hold of him, digging her claws into his naked flesh. He even whispered, "Don't worry, my brave goddess. I won't let it harm you." It sometimes would work perfectly fine, and other times it barely did anything.

Not long after, she was sound asleep. Keith reached for a small shelf, grabbing something. It was a small circle with what looked like a spider's web and a small object in the center. A Dreamcatcher, something his human ancestors believed would catch the bad dreams in the web and destroy them at dawn. He hung it up over their cot and slowly fell asleep.

Eventually, Kosmo joins them, having tracked their scents to the Black-Lion. He slinks in sees "Mommy" and "Daddy" sleeping and flops in front of the cot. He sighs and automatically falls asleep. Every once and awhile, looking up when he feels "mom's" hand touch his coat. He licks it and places it down.

_The screams kept getting louder and louder as the creature continued its rampage on the base. A small girl hid in a utility locker crying as the sounds of tearing flesh, the crunching of bones, and the splashing of some type of liquid filled the air along with the sounds of terror and blaster fire. The little girl held her hands over her tiny ears clamping her eyes shut as tight as a terrified 4-year-old girl could._

_On her tiny face, faint freckle like spots on her skin started to luminance a bright bluish-white. Something that her mother's race did when wracked with emotions. She squeezed her tiny ears even harder, screaming and crying in fear as she heard the screams of people being torn apart. She could also not only taste but smell the coppery taste of blood in the air._

_This time, however, she feels the embrace of another. A calming embrace which starts to put her at ease, and forget about the ensuing carnage outside her utility locker. She is afraid to open her eyes, but she feels compelled too. Through the haze of tears, she sees a boy about her age holding her. He has a worried look, but it also is filled with confidence and determination. He has curly black hair and almost purple color for eyes. His skin tone was a tannish red, but in some spots, she could see hints of purple. Even the whites of his eyes had a faint trace of yellow in the darkness._

_Looking into his eyes, she started to feel safe with him. He holds a hand out to her in which she grabs it, but intertwines her fingers with his. There was a loud bang in which caused the little girl to jump, but the boy showed no signs of hearing. As the deafening chaos got louder and louder, she could hear him say, "Don't worry, Acxa, I won't let anything happen to you. You are safe with me now," even though he mouthed it._

**Outside, the Black-Lion's eyes flashed as a low rumbling growl could be heard as if to agree with what was said in the nightmare. However, to those in the bay just looked at it weird, thinking it was coming to life with no pilot. But instead, it powered down to "sleep-mode" at the ready to protect its three occupants.**

On the inside of the lion on the cot, both Keith and Acxa's right hands were intertwined. She moaned in her sleep and squeezed his hand even tighter. _In the dream, a little boy could be seen comforting a little girl as more and more bloodshed occurred around as if they were never there._


End file.
